Cricket SA team doctor Mohammed Moosajee has issued a statement after an incident involving a reporter at Adelaide airport on Monday.

The reporter was seeking comment from Proteas captain Faf du Plessis — who has been charged with ball tampering – at the airport when Proteas security attempted to physically block the journalist from getting too close to the player.

The eager reporter could be seen attempting to get close to Du Plessis while asking him questions relating to the ball-tampering charge when Proteas security physically intervened.

The third Test begins in Adelaide on Thursday.

“The Australian media and Channel 9 News, in particular, have been advised on numerous occasions over the past few days that Cricket South Africa and captain, Faf du Plessis, are not in a position to comment on the alleged ball tampering issue,” said Moosajee in a statement.

“However, despite our best to intentions to co-operate with the Australian media, Channel 9 News’ behaviour has been disappointing. We have advised of our media protocol which has been blatantly ignored, both at the team’s hotel in Melbourne on Friday and Saturday and again at the airport in Adelaide today [Monday].

“This is the third incident of a reporter aggressively harassing our players with blatant disrespect of the above-mentioned media protocol.

“The ‘reporter’ at the airport disrespected us and continued to harass Faf for comment. The ‘reporter’ was also in the unusual position of being in the middle of the players’ walkway to the bus. He was advised to move three times and did not adhere to this request. The ‘reporter’, who also had no official accreditation, then proceeded to lunge towards Faf with an unknown object causing a direct breach of security protocol. The reporter also shoved the team manager in the back.

“Throughout the tour, we have respected all our media obligations and treated media with the utmost respect. At the same time, we would like to see this respect reciprocated and will not accept such behaviour as displayed by the Channel 9 News reporter.”

CONTACT

Terms and Conditions

It is important to note that the use of this website is subject to terms and conditions. By using this site the user agrees and is deemed to have agreed to observe all terms and conditions of the use, including any privacy or other policies which may appear elsewhere on the website. Read the Terms and Conditions here.

ABOUT THE DAILY VOICE

The Daily Voice is a Cape tabloid newspaper that captures the life of working class communities. We speak the people’s language, tell the people’s stories and champion the people’s issues by giving a voice to the voiceless.